World Supersport: Magny Cours Preview

The 2025 World Supersport season kicks back into action this weekend at the French circuit of Magny Cours. After a double victory last time out in Hungary, championship leader Stefano Manzi will be looking to bring himself closer to clinching this year’s title.

Sitting fifty-nine points adrift of Manzi is fellow Yamaha rider, Can Oncu. 2025 has been somewhat of a long-awaited breakout year for the Turkish rider. Despite a moderately patchy start to the season, Oncu has looked incredibly consistent in recent rounds, and since Czechia has positioned himself as Manzi’s closest rival. Since Most, Oncu has won three races and finished off the podium just once. Comparatively, Manzi has won four races, but finished outside of the top five twice and has not scored on two occasions.

Despite having an almost sixty-point lead in the standings, Manzi is not out of the woods yet – and we have seen the Italian make unforced errors this year. If Oncu can keep the pressure on Manzi, we may end up with quite a spectacular championship showdown. However, coming into Magny Cours off the back of a double win, the momentum is with the Italian rider.

Just three points separate the current third and fourth place riders in the standings, Jaume Masia and Britain’s Tom Booth-Amos. After an excellent weekend at Donington Park, the Hungarian round proved to be a little trickier for the Brit, as he closed the weekend with a non-score and a tenth place. Booth-Amos achieved one of his best results of 2024 at Magny Cours, finishing fourth in race two. As such, the PTR Triumph rider will mostly likely be confident of good result this weekend.

Former championship leader, Bo Bendseyder will be hoping to get his season back on track after a difficult few rounds. Just one point finish in the last four races has seen the MV Agusta rider fall out of championship contention; however, he sits just sixteen points adrift of Booth-Amos.

French pairing, Valentin Debise and Lucas Mahias will be looking to give the home crowd something to cheer about this weekend. Both riders have demonstrated speed throughout the season so far, but have had one too many incidents on the track. Mahias in particular will be hoping for a strong home round, after picking up zero points last time out.

Ducati riders Marcel Schrotter (EAB Ducati) and Phillip Oetl (Feel Racing) have faired contrasting fortunes in recent rounds. After a strong start to the season, Schrotter has either failed to finish or been outside the top ten in the last four races. Meanwhile, after an injury scuppered the first part of the season, Oetl and the Feel Racing team have become more of a consistent feature within the top positions.

Elsewhere on the grid, PTR Triumph’s Oli Bayliss and Althea Ducati’s Simon Jesperson head into the weekend after strong weekends in Hungary. Bayliss scored his best World Supersport result to date with a fourth place, whilst Jesperson took a shock podium. Both riders will be hoping to maintain their good form over the French round.

Last year’s visit to the French circuit had it’s fair share of surprises, with Niki Tuuli winning the opening race of the weekend. With the weather looking fairly uncertain for the weekend ahead, we could very well see a new name added to the list of winners in 2025.